Cooling system operation (Cooling system - MEMS) (page 2 of 2)

The siting of the thermostat in the inlet rather than the outlet side of the system provides a reduced warm up time by circulating a small amount of coolant around a shorter tract, this also prevents temperature build up within the cylinder head prior to the thermostat opening.

As the temperature increases the thermostat gradually opens, bleeding cool coolant into the cylinder block and allowing hot coolant to flow to the radiator via the top hose, balancing the flow of hot and cold fluid to maintain temperature. As the thermostat opens further so the full flow of coolant is drawn through the radiator.